Review Diplomatic Relations With South Africa Now, Group Tells FG

As outrage continues to trail the killing of Nigerians and the attacks on their businesses in South Africa, a group, the Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED) has called on the Federal Government to immediately review diplomatic relations with its fellow African Union (AU) member country. This position was conveyed in a statement issued in Abuja by the group and signed by its Executive Director, Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi. According to the group, the losses in terms of lives and property, and the consistency with which Nigerians have been targeted “make it abundantly clear that it is time for the Federal Government to fundamentally rethink diplomatic relations with South Africa.”
It said: “The era of diplomatic niceties and notions of African brotherhood, with specific reference to South Africa, are over. A country, whose citizens delight in the mindless and senseless slaughter of fellow Africans can no longer be considered “brotherly,” by any stretch of the imagination.”
Alleging that the attacks were partly caused by hate speech by some highly placed officials, it gave an example Mr. Bongani Mkongi, who was the Deputy Minister of Police of the Republic of South Africa from 31 March 2017 until 25 May 2019.
“In a video currently circulating online, the said Mkongi could be heard justifying the xenophobic attacks on the alleged grounds that South African cities were being taken over by foreigners. Although there are lone voices of reasons like Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who have consistently condemned attacks on foreign nations, their admonitions get drowned in the sea of hate gripping many South African citizens.
“In the light of the inciting rhetoric from highly placed South African officials, which then manifests in the dastardly acts, including the killing of Nigerians, CHRICED calls on the Federal Government to immediately move beyond mere issuing of statements.
“In fact with this unending wave of assault on the lives and property of Nigerians in South Africa, we call for an immediate review of diplomatic relations with South Africa, without taking off the option of recalling our Ambassador, while expelling the South African envoy in Abuja, as a first symbolic step. Secondly, Nigeria must invoke the principle of reciprocity by mobilizing its soft power assets to put pressure on South African economic interests in Nigeria, in the first instance. It is totally unacceptable that South Africans are killing Nigerians and attacking their businesses, while South African businesses thrive in other parts of the continent.”
The group also stated that the people of Nigeria would no longer condone the that Nigerians can be killed, maimed and their businesses destroyed without any real consequence. “To this end, the Federal Government of Nigeria must mobilize the relevant national institutions to properly document these xenophobic crimes with the view to holding all perpetrators accountable, using the instrumentality of multilateral diplomatic circles like the Africa Union, the International Criminal Court in the Hague and the United Nations Human Rights Commission,” it said.

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